Ambassador of Argentina to China: During President Fernandez's visit to China, Argentina and China will jointly announce the establishment of a football school, where Argentine coaches and technicians will provide training for Chinese football players and carry out intensive sports exchange activities.
In an exclusive interview with the Global Times reporter a few days ago, Argentine Ambassador to China Niu Wangdao said that in the context of the spread of the new crown epidemic around the world, he hopes that what the world will see at the Beijing Winter Olympics is not only the success of individual athletes, but also the victory of the unity and collectivism of all countries. He said it was on the basis of that philosophy that Argentina opposed any politicization of the Winter Olympics. Niu Wangdao also revealed that during the visit of Argentine President Fernandez to China, the two countries will also jointly announce the establishment of a football school, and Argentine coaches and technicians will provide training for Chinese football players.
Argentine Ambassador to China Niu Wangdao was interviewed by the Global Times
On December 9 last year, the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs published a statement on the front page of its official website entitled "Firm support for the Beijing Winter Olympics", stating its position contrary to that of the US government and clearly stating that Argentina was "one of the first countries to support Beijing to host the Winter Olympics."
Niu Wangdao told the Global Times reporter in an interview that the Olympic Games should become an occasion for everyone to gather together, an occasion where sportsmanship dominates, so Argentina has supported the Beijing Winter Olympics from the beginning and decided to send a delegation of the highest level. "Our President Fernandez personally came to attend the Winter Olympics, which shows that Argentina attaches great importance to China's hosting of the Winter Olympics and to Sino-Arab bilateral relations."
Argentine President Fernandez Infographic
According to the Argentine diplomat, six Argentine athletes participated in four of the 15 events of the Beijing Winter Olympics, including cross-country skiing, alpine skiing, bobsled and ice skating. He hopes that the Argentine players will achieve good results, and he also hopes that the entire Winter Olympics will be successful.
"Of course we expect every Argentine athlete to achieve the best results, but let me stress again that we are more interested in sportsmanship, being fair in the eyes of the whole world. The real victory for all nations is that we can come together in one place so that the world can see not only individual victories, but also collectivist spirit. He said.
In Argentina's view, politicizing the Olympics is a very bad act, Niu Wangdao said, because it should be an occasion for "all countries to show unity and harmony." ”
He said some countries have treated issues such as democracy and human rights as "political chips" and have adopted obvious double standards. "They frequently use human rights, democracy and other issues in some countries, but turn a blind eye to the problems of other countries", and some countries have not even solved many human rights and democracy issues within themselves. "So we have to be very careful not to politicize the Olympics."
What cooperation between China and Argentina in the field of winter sports? Niu Wangdao told the Global Times reporter that Argentina is one of the few South American countries that have climatic conditions to carry out winter sports and participate in the Winter Olympics, and there are many ski resorts in the south of the country, which can not only be used by Argentina itself, but also other Latin American countries to carry out winter tourism and winter sports in these places.
He said that in the future, Argentina and China will also jointly build more winter sports infrastructure such as ski runs, which will not only promote the development of winter sports, but also aim to promote winter tourism. In addition, during President Fernandez's visit to China, Argentina and China will jointly announce the establishment of a football school, Argentine coaches and technicians will provide training for Chinese football players, and carry out intensive sports exchange activities, "sports cooperation will become the main content of future Arab-Chinese cooperation." ”
This visit to China is Fernandez's first visit to China since he was elected president of Argentina in 2019, and it also coincides with the important moment of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Argentina. Niu Wangdao said that not long ago, latin American and Caribbean communities unanimously elected Argentina as the rotating presidency, and Latin America and the Caribbean Community has a special mechanism to promote cooperation with China, under which Argentina will promote overall cooperation between Latin America and China.
The Argentine ambassador said that like many other Latin American countries, Argentina and China have great complementarities, so over the past five decades, Arab-Chinese relations have developed rapidly in every sense. "One proof is that no matter how many changes our government has gone through, the 'close to China' policy has never changed, and at every stage, the relationship with China is deepening."
Niu Wangdao particularly emphasized the cooperation between Afghanistan and China in the field of fighting the epidemic. "First of all, on behalf of the Argentine government, I would like to thank China for its help and cooperation to the world and Argentina during the most difficult time of the epidemic," he said, "which makes me think of a sentence that can only be seen when it is difficult to see who is a true friend." Argentina and other countries have been there when they face difficulties. ”
The Argentine diplomat recalled, "In 2020, there was a shortage of medical supplies around the world, and it was China that worked intensively with us: China sent us 46 flights of medical supplies, both donations and purchases." In addition, there are many supplies arriving in Argentina from China by ship. In 2020, Argentina received a total of about 1,500 tons of sanitary supplies from China. These supplies have greatly helped our health system, and we are deeply grateful to China for working with us during this difficult time. ”
He also said that when the time enters 2021, China and Argentina have worked closely together on vaccines. "China is not only extremely responsible for its own epidemic control, but also one of the most generous countries in its assistance to other developing countries, especially in the field of vaccines." He said that last year, Argentina received 30 million doses of sinopharm vaccine and 5 million doses of cansino vaccine from China, which can be vaccinated by 20 million Argentines, which has played a crucial role in Argentina's national vaccination program. At present, Argentina is cooperating with Sinopharm and other enterprises, hoping to localize the production of Chinese new crown vaccines.
Source: Global Times-Global Network Bai Yunyi Hu Yuwei